Vietnam urges Australia to re-open shrimp imports

Created: Thursday, 16 February 2017 07:14

Australia's suspension of shrimp imports has had a negative impact on Vietnamese shrimp raisers and exporters. (Image source: jackmac34/Pixabay)The Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade, Tran Tuan Anh, has called on the Australian Government to allow the import of prawns and uncooked shrimps again soon

In a note sent to the Australia’s agriculture and water resources department on Anh expressed concern about the negative impact of the suspension of imports on Vietnamese shrimp raisers and exporters.

The Australian department had announced on 9 January that it was suspending the import of prawns and uncooked shrimps from all Asian nations, including Vietnam, after an outbreak of white spot disease was reported in five aquaculture sites on Logan River in southeast Queensland, as well as in shrimps in the river, in December last year. The suspension is supposed to last for six months.

As part of the move, the batches of prawns sent to Australia as of 9 January would be destroyed or re-exported, while the batches that arrived before that date or were in transit in Australia would undergo rigorous examination before it was allowed to be used.

Anh has proposed to the Australian Government to revert to the previous regulations that were in place before 9 January on the batches of prawns already imported to Australia, the batches which were en-route from Vietnam to Australia, and the batches that have been produced under contracts between Vietnamese and Australian firms.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MoIT) deputy minister Tran Quoc Khanh briefed Australian ambassador to Viet Nam Craig Chittick on the huge losses caused by the suspension to Vietnamese shrimp farmers and exporters in a meeting in Ha Noi. The ministry commented that it will continue to work with concerned agencies from both countries to convince the Australian Government to end the suspension as soon as possible.